Call On the Lord

If your prayers are few and far between because God’s replies feel vague or nonexistent, you are not alone. The perceived lack of answers from God can keep some from praying, and some from believing. Prayer is obviously an innate part of our relationship with the Lord, and probably all mankind. No matter how weak our faith may be, calling on God is like an instinct. Even those who don’t know Christ will drop to their knees and plead for God’s intervention in the darkest moments.

God does answer prayer.

He answers prayer because He is the answer. Sounds cliché, but it is the truth. He is our comforter, provider, teacher, counselor, physician, healer and redeemer, but we often don’t want His kind of answers. Instead we ask God to send specific solutions to remedy our problems. We lose our job, then a new job is the solution. We lose our health; restored health is the solution. It’s not to say He can’t answer these needs if He chooses, but He wants us to call on Him by faith for His name’s sake.

But what about the stormy days when we’re going down with the ship? Surely, we can put aside the just “have faith” solution for a tangible lifeboat? This is the kind of storm so violent that every moment is occupied with turmoil and a moment free from the storm cannot be found, much less a free moment to sit and pray. And if you do pray, it is 100% about getting out of the storm and finding calm waters. Isn’t saving us from the proverbial storm a high enough priority that nothing else matters?

Not necessarily.

A lame man was brought to Jesus for healing and Jesus told him his sins were forgiven. The crowd around them was not impressed, in fact they were upset with Him for forgiving someone’s sins! But after that, Jesus healed the man and the lame man stood up and walked, and the crowd was in awe. It’s not unlike us today. We call on Jesus for help with an urgent need and all He gave is forgiveness of sins. We’re not impressed. We asked for a new alternator for the truck and got nothing but eternity with the King of Kings. That’s really cool, but how do we get to work in the morning? We want a knee replacement and He gave us eternity in heaven with Him. You see the point? The tangible answers and provisions are wonderful things, but nothing should displace the priority of our salvation. Next time a storm rages, reflect on the reality of your eternal existence, and you’ll see the storm through different eyes.

The greatest answer is Jesus. He offers Himself when we call.

Jesus is the messenger and He is the message. He is the eternal answer. The divine and merciful plan from before creation was to send the Son of God to make atonement for our sins and reconcile mankind and God. Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6). He brought Word from heaven, and He is the Word. He preached salvation and He is salvation. We were in darkness and He is the Light of the world. We call on Him and He always saves us.
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Romans says “All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Jesus is the answer to our prayers. We may never appreciate the magnitude of this truth this side of life, but when we stand alone before God on judgement day, we will be glad Jesus was the answer when we called.

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